So, at 5:00pm GMT on Friday 12th February construction started! There was a small ceremony to celebrate the occasion, but attendance was thin. Just me, a cat and a rabbit. I think the rabbit enjoyed it at least, I think nibbling my slipper was his way of saying "good luck."
Ahem. Enough of that.
So, the first step was to cut the four pieces out of the plywood sheets. Cutting out the keel parts was a bit trickier than I'd anticipated, but only because I was petrified of doing anything wrong! Once I had built up the courage to put a bit of weight behind the knife the pieces came out a dream. I gave them all a good sand where they had been cut, checking the evenness by running my fingers along the edges from time to time.
The next step was to glue the two keel pieces together and add the strengtheners. I gave some thought to the best order to do this in and which clamps to use to make it as easy as possible to keep them all square and flush. One concern was that if I used clamps underneath the keel when I left it to dry there would be some tension because the bottom of the keel wouldn't lie completely flat. I suppose ideally 1 large clamp could be used which sat on the top and spread down the length of the part to be glued. I had quick look at James' log and noticed that he had used small clamps underneath and didn't seem to have any problems so I went for it!
The following pictures show the order in which I glued and clamped the pieces:
First I glued one half of one of the keel strengtheners to the bow section of the keel:
I then glued and slotted in the stern section of the keel and clamped this:
After leaving this to dry for a short time I carefully removed the clamps and glued the second strengthener directly on, being careful to line it up so that it was flush at the top and bottom, and didn't overlap into the bulkhead slots on either side. I then reattached the clamps, making sure the smaller, thinned ones were on the bottom:
Here is a close up of the join and the clamps used.
Finally I glued and slotted in the main mast stay in the correct slot. The fit wasn't 100% snug so I did have to be careful that the stay was perpendicular to the false keel. I used the corner of my steel ruler to check that is was at right angles to the keel.
I have now left the glue to dry overnight and will have to wait until the next installment arrives to do anything more with the model itself. However, there is a lot of research and checking I need to do in the meantime! Here is the finished first section of the instructions:
NEXT STEPS
My first next step, as mentioned in the previous post, will be to check the cut of the bulkheads that I currently have and correct any imperfections. Looking at the quality of the pieces so far suggests that there won't be much work that needs doing! Other then imperfections caused by my clumsy cutting when taking them out the plywood sheet.
I also want to do some research (most likely with the help of model ship world) into whether I should be doing some work on the false keel at this stage to make the planking of the hull easier. I have begun to read the excellent guide to hull planking here. It suggests that I should be doing some shaping the keel at this stage and also mentions created a "rabbet." I won't go into any detail here, but will find out if I need to be doing it, and if I do some of this work I will include details in a future post. Having looked at James' log of this model again he does do some work with the keel, but not at this stage, and he does not include a rabbet. However, his method of planking seems to differ from that suggested in the above link. I will report back with my findings!
I think it's time to sign off get on with some research. Happy sailing!
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